About this time last week, I was sitting with friends in the large auditorium at Transmediale in Berlin waiting for the keynote lecture by Antonio Negri. As we ended up waiting for quite some time, we got to see the interviews with Negri from the DVD by Angela Melitopoulos several times over (after we had already watched them in the afternoon at the exhibition). By the time everyone was seated in the audience and a complicated, large-scale headphone exchange had been successfully carried out, the large auditorium seemed to be steeped in the presence of this larger-than-life figure, who finally took his place at the table to speak to this crowd of people that had been waiting for him for hours.

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Since there were not enough headphones for everyone who needed a simultaneous translation from Italian into German or English, the organizers decided to change to a consecutive translation into German with a simultaneous English translation (the reason for the large-scale headphone exchange action). Negri was thus shifted yet another step outside the realm of ordinary beings (at least those of us who don't understand Italian), as we could watch his gestures and expressions, hear the sound of his voice, but the meaning of the words arrived with some delay. Although the German translator was excellent, for the people listening to the English translation of the German translation from Italian, the lecture must have turned into a game of Chinese Whispers altogether. At the end of the lecture, the discussion was opened with the ritual invitation for questions; someone more or less summarized the major points of criticism under discussion everywhere, where "Empire" is discussed, and the game went on for a few more rounds.

Some of the reviews (under "Pressreview: http://www.transmediale.de) of the festival were highly critical of the way a philsopher was presented like a pop star, but I'm not sure that criticism is really applicable. With all the discussions about different formats both online and off, wherever people are trying to figure out the best ways to learn from one another, I think the lecture form still seems to be the most comfortable ritual - perhaps because it is most familiar? If people found it disappointing or superfluous that Negri appeared at Transmediale "like a pop star", what else were they expecting? Why not stage a ritual spectacle to celebrate a philosopher, after all?

Yes, of course, the classic lecture stands strong.. And it probably simply is necessary at times to draw people together via idols. And it probably is kinda nice to have this "with your own eyes" experience.
Yea, but how much "good news" did this pop-tart actually get across? I get that there must have been quite an aura-production going on in that room. :-}
I'm feeling a bit critical today... ;-} So i'd ask, do you have the feeling that he's actually producing cutting-edge ideas. I've heard people saying he's getting old and.. i don't know what - i guess he's always been quite poetic, mixing italian flourish in his post-autonomist language.. well,, possibly just a bit of a celebrity. Celebrity as being widely known for being widely read.
And next to that, was there room for this person to actually interact (because isn't that what conferences are about)? At least at a more elevated level (did the transmediale feature a backstage-lounge?). Were there autograph-seekers?
faintings?
okok.. what was his talk about?
anybody speak italian?